Receive the latest local updates in your inbox

The family of a woman killed in a crash caused by a drunken driver was blindsided when it accidentally learned the convicted drunken driver now stands accused of getting back behind the wheel without a license.

Yvonne Hutchinson died in that November 2004 crash on Route 231 in Charles County, Md., on her way home from work. Ryan Reffitt, who pleaded guilty to charges of being intoxicated and driving without a license, had his 1-month-old daughter in the back seat at the time.

Victim's Family Angry Convicted Drunken Driver Back Behind the Wheel

A convicted drunken driver who served time for causing a fatal crash is accused of getting back behind the wheel -- without a license. (Published Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009)

Reffitt served about three years in jail, which Hutchinson's family thought was too lenient a sentence, something they're more convinced of now that they've learned he's allegedly been back behind the wheel since he got out of jail.

"It's just very frustrating that once he gets out he re-offends again," said Hutchinson's son, Mike Harry. "It just seems like there's no rehabilitation at all and that he just completely disregards the law, apparently, if he's going back to re-offending and going back to driving without a license again."

A check of court records revealed Reffitt was arrested twice in April -- once in Calvert County, once in St. Mary's County -- and faces charges of driving without a license.

"The reality is that he does care," said Reffitt's lawyer, Larry Lamson. "He is currently in alcohol treatment. He is probably about 30 days away from securing a valid."

Lamson's representing Reffitt on the traffic charges in Calvert and St. Mary's as well as possible probation violations in Charles County.

"He feels horrible that he made the indiscretion to drive on two occasions to get to work," Lamson said. "The other side of the coin was, is he knew he had to continue to pay the restitution to the victims of the prior case and he knew that he had to keep current in his child support obligations or he faced the difficulty of going to jail for that."

"My mom was a very forgiving person," Harry said. "She always looked for the best in everybody. If he was able to come out of prison and had been rehabilitated, turned his life around, done something good with his life, but by re-offending and driving without a license, it just doesn't seem like he thinks the law applies to him. He doesn't care."